30 November 2014
National:
‘India will engage all countries on climate change’
The Indian team that will participate in the
upcoming conference in Lima in December will engage all countries on the agenda
that the world must come together and take on the challenge of climate
change.“The Foundation has given a basic input on how the farmer should be
compensated by arriving at real remunerative cost and that has set a benchmark
for discussion. It also said that food security must take into account the
productivity of eastern part of India,” which was fundamental to sustained
green revolution.
Modi for better utilisation of railway lands
Prime Minister Narenda Modi called for the
privatisation of railway stations to equip them with better services. He called
for utilising vast tracts of railway land for construction of five-star hotels
and motels so that trains could run beneath such modern amenities built on huge
properties along railway tracks between two stations, which, has been lying
underutilised at a time when land prices have gone up manifold.Mr. Modi, on a
three-day visit to Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, at Maligaon, where he
flagged off the first passenger train from Mendipathar in Meghalaya’s North
Garo Hills district to Guwahati and laid the foundation stone for a broad-gauge
railway line in Mizoram from Bhairibi to Sairang.
Education makes people less vulnerable to natural
disasters such as floods, landslides and storms that are expected to intensify
with climate change, says a new study. Investing in empowerment through
universal education should be essential in climate change adaptation efforts,
according to the study conducted by International Institute for Applied Systems
Analysis (IIASA).“Education is key for reducing disaster fatalities and
enhancing adaptive capacity,” said Wolfgang Lutz, director of IIASA’s World
Population Programme. The study is based on natural disaster data collected for
167 countries over the past four decades as well as a number of studies carried
out in individual countries and regions. “Our research shows that education is
more important than GDP [gross domestic product] in reducing mortality from
natural disasters.
Award adequate relief to victims of heinous crimes:
SC
The Supreme Court has directed judicial officers
across the country to award adequate compensation to victims of heinous
offences or their families while sentencing the convicts.“It has been brought
to our notice that even though almost a period of five years has expired since
the enactment of Section 357A of the Criminal Procedure Code, the award of
compensation has not become a rule and interim compensation, which is very
important, is not being granted by the courts. The object and purpose of the
provision is to enable the court to direct the State to pay compensation to the
victim. It has also been pointed out that the upper limit of compensation fixed
by some of the States is arbitrarily low and is not in keeping with the object
of the legislation”.
Earth’s most abundant mineral gets name
American geologists have named the earth’s most
abundant mineral Bridgmanite. It had hitherto remained nameless as a large
enough sample of the mineral, found in the earth’s lower mantle, had not been
recovered. Under the rules of set down by the International Mineralogical
Association, a mineral cannot be given a formal name until a specimen has been
found and examined first hand. A group of American geologists were recently
able to extract a sample large enough to analyse from a meteorite. The new name
is in honour of Percy Bridgman, a pioneer in the use of high pressure
experiments to better understand how many geological formations come about.
International:
Beijing bans smoking in public
Beijing has adopted a smoking ban in all indoor
public spaces including workplaces and public transport. The official Xinhua
News Agency reports the ban will go into effect on June 1 and carry a fine of
up to 200 yuan or $32.50. The Standing Committee of Beijing Municipal People’s
Congress passed the draft regulation. China is home to the most smokers of any
country, with 300 million smoking and 740 million exposed to second-hand smoke
every year.
Taiwan Premier quits as power slips from pro-China
party in local poll
Taiwan’s Premier resigned after his Beijing-friendly
ruling party suffered a landslide defeat at the island’s biggest ever local
elections. Jiang Yi-huah announced that he had stepped down at a brief press
conference, saying that he took “political responsibility” for the Kuomintang’s
heavy losses.Unofficial results showed the KMT had lost in five out of Taiwan’s
six municipalities, retaining a slender lead in the race for New Taipei which
was still too close to call.
Orion all set for Dec. 4 test flight
Designed to carry astronauts to deep space destinations
like Mars, NASA’s Orion spacecraft is all set to blast off for its first test
flight December 4. To be launched atop a Delta IV heavy rocket from Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 37 in Florida, Orion will not
carry any people on its test flight.Orion will travel to an altitude of 5,793.6
km, orbit Earth twice, then splash down in the Pacific Ocean.
Business & Economy:
Quick Heal solution for safe online banking
Quick Heal Technologies Private Ltd has come out
with a solution to enable users have safe banking, secure Internet surfing and
a better personal computer experience. “Every person who shops or banks online
is a potential victim to phishing attacks, identity theft, and data stealing
software such as key loggers. Quick Heal 16.00 has been designed to combat the
dangers of online financial transactions such as paying bills, banking and
shopping. Quick Heal 16.00 has brought in a security feature called ‘Safe Banking’
that automatically takes all necessary security steps while the user conducts a
financial transaction online. At present, there has been a rise in the number
of identity thefts and incidents of online scams.
FSLRC recommendations will be implemented soon
The Centre will implement a ‘large number’ of
legislative reforms recommended by the Financial Sector Legislative Reforms
Commission (FSLRC) ‘in the days to come’.The Commission, chaired by Justice B.
N. Srikrishna, which submitted its report on March 22, 2013, suggested drastic
changes to the financial sector’s regulatory architecture. These include
putting in place an Indian Financial Code that will replace the bulk of
existing laws and creating a single regulator for pension, equity, insurance and
commodities markets. It has also proposed to retain the Reserve Bank, but
recommended to review its regulatory structure.
